(From left to right) Junior Harper White, sophomores Noah Kilpatrick, Violet Cantarella, Peter Atchley and junior Wyatt Meyer pose for a photo recognizing them for their Governor’s Honors Program notifications outside of Clarke Central High School Main Office on March 27. Five Clarke Central High School students were selected as state finalists for the program, which will take place at Georgia Southern University from June 16 to July 13. “When I saw I was a finalist I couldn’t believe it. So many absolutely spectacular people were competing for the positions and it just seemed unlikely that I would get in,” Cantarella said. “I am so incredibly excited for the summer and so proud of all the people who competed.” Photo by Aza Khan
Five Clarke Central High School finalists named to summer residential program.
The Clarke County School District announced that six CCSD high school students — five from Clarke Central High and one from Cedar Shoals High — have been selected as finalists for the 2024 Georgia Governor’s Honors Program (GHP) on March 27.
GHP is a four-week residential summer program for gifted and talented high school students who will enter either their junior or senior year in the fall. The program offers instruction designed to provide students with enrichment in their area of talent so they can become the next generation of global critical thinkers, innovators, and leaders. This year’s program will take place from June 16 to July 13 at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Ga.
“My Comm(unicative). Arts classes improved my existing literary analysis and writing abilities and pushed me into areas I’d never studied,” CCHS senior Anna Shaikun, who attended GHP last summer, said. “We delved into African literature, wrote five genres of short stories in one week, and analyzed film as text through an extensive viewing of ‘The Godfather.’”
This year’s CCHS state finalists include juniors Wyatt Meyer in Communicative Arts and Harper White in World Languages (French), along with sophomores Peter Atchley and Violett Cantarella in Communicative Arts and Noah Kilpatrick in Mathematics. Ella Conway, a sophomore at Cedar Shoals High School, will attend GHP in Visual Arts.
“When I saw I was a finalist I couldn’t believe it. So many absolutely spectacular people were competing for the positions and it just seemed unlikely that I would get in,” Cantarella said. “I am so incredibly excited for the summer and so proud of all the people who competed.”
While at GHP, students will attend classes in the mornings in their specific areas of study and will participate in electives after lunch. They will also participate in a variety of social and instructional opportunities each evening.
“Each of these students (has) not only demonstrated academic excellence but (has) also demonstrated the necessary social and emotional maturity necessary to excel in this intense summer experience. I am also very grateful to the teachers and coordinators who have worked with these students and been part of their educational journey.”
— Dr. Robbie P. Hooker,
Clarke County School District Superintendent of Schools finalis
One evening offering is the Communicative Arts department’s culminating event, Coffeehouse, where students in the major compete to perform an original piece composed during the program to an audience of GHP colleagues. For Shaikun, performing at Coffeehouse was a leap of faith.
“While I considered myself a strong writer before GHP, I realized that I constantly limited myself. I had written sonnets and news stories alike, but they were restrained by the structures of iambic pentameter or a word count,” Shaikun said. “My Coffeehouse submission fell outside my comfort zone — I wrote a combination of an inspirational speech, stand-up comedy, and commentary on the human condition.”
Each school year, high schools in Georgia nominate students for GHP, and students go through an extensive application process with assistance from school-level coordinators. CCHS’s coordinator is English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Department chair Jodi Bolgla, while the late English teacher Stephen Castile served as CSHS’s school-level coordinator until his passing in February. CSHS English teacher Marc Ginsberg has since taken over GHP coordinator duties.
“We are so proud of these students and are excited that they will be able to immerse themselves in their area of interest through this outstanding program,” CCSD Superintendent Dr. Robbie P. Hooker stated in a press release. “Each of these students (has) not only demonstrated academic excellence but (has) also demonstrated the necessary social and emotional maturity necessary to excel in this intense summer experience. I am also very grateful to the teachers and coordinators who have worked with these students and been part of their educational journey.”
